The Darkness Within
by Maryowl Wheeler
Summary: Ezra has found Kanan, but something isn't right. Master and Padawan cross blades in a battle of wit and speed. Their bond Will not break here. A small one shot based in the same time line as my story, Living Changes Every Thing. you will need to read that before Some of the smaller details will make sense.


**Hey guys just a quick warning you will need to read my other story Living Changes Every thing, so that the details make sense.**

 **As for all the people who have read the story mentioned above. This is a small one shot I wrote for you guys. I got board and all the chapters for my other story have already been written out. I'm just pacing out how fast I post the chapters. This takes place in the same time line as Living Changes Every Thing but other than that it doesn't really connect. Ezra is still twenty years of age and has the different crystal in his hybrid saber. All that has happened is that Kanan got captured by the Inquisitor. (I know. Again:)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star wars rebels (although I wish I did:) all rights belong to Disney.**

 **Enjoy**

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"Kanan?" Ezra asked. His master did not even acknowledge him.

"Kanan! We have to go!" Sabine's voice was all but clear over the blaster fire and the older Jedi still had not moved. Ezra deactivated his saber and placed a hand on his shoulder. Kanan turned to face his apprentice, but Ezra wasn't prepared for what he saw. Instead of his master's natural aquamarine eye, they were replaced with the yellow Irises of a dark force user. Ezra backed away a few steps and let his hand hover over the lightsaber hilt at his side.

"Master?" Ezra ventured carefully forward. Kanan didn't so much as twitch. His eye stared intensely at Ezra. The Padawan didn't know what had happened to him, but it was obviously something the Jedi couldn't handle.

Kanan held out a single hand to his side. The two pieces of his saber connected together in thin air and landed in his palm. The ignition of the blade bathed the room in crimson light. Ezra couldn't believe what he saw. He did not want to fight his master.

Kanan took up a form three defensive stance. Ezra could see Sabine out of the corner of his eye. She backed up several steps. The Padawan could feel her shock and confusion as his own.

"Sabine! Get back to the ship!" Ezra's voice was urgent as Kanan stepped forward toward His old Padawan. Ezra hesitantly drew his saber. Sabine still hadn't moved. "Go! Now!" He ordered as the yellow and red blades crossed in a flurry of light. Ezra had dueled with Kanan many times during training. He knew his weaknesses and his strengths. He knew how heavily his master relied on Form three in such tight spaced fights and how he liked to keep a tight defensive line. It did not do well to complement his physical strength and poor force shielding but played to his speed instead. Ezra would have to watch out for low saber sweeps and hilt strikes. He knew that Kanan would try to keep him in close combat to keep his student from employing the hybrid function of his weapon against him and breaking his defenses.

Ezra flipped his saber backwards in his hand and pulled his body into an Ataru form, stance. He had just enough room to make it effective against his master's slower form. His left hand yearned for a second weapon but he did not need it in this fight. He would not harm Kanan; he would knock him unconscious and take him back to the Ghost. He knew that Kanan was seduced against his will. He would never willingly fall to the dark side.

Trading quick blows the two circled each other. They both knew each other's favorite tricks, so Ezra switched to the unorthodox. He switched his grip to the standard forward position and changed to the Soresu form that his master favored. Instead of trying to out flank Kanan he would match him blow for blow, but with more precision and less strength. He would wear the older man down and incorporate his hand to hand training, which would play to Kanan's weakness.

Kanan charged a second time, swiping several aggressive, quick hits across Ezra's defensive line. He too had changed styles. It was turning into a battle of wits. Who could out maneuver their opponent? Ezra knew that one small slip could spell death for him but he wasn't sure if Kanan would consider killing him a viable option. Ezra played the game like his life depended on it. Either dodging, witch wasted less energy or parried the attacks, blocking was a waste of time because the Padawan knew that Kanan was physically stronger than him and a saber lock could result in his defeat. Ezra spotted a slight weakness but wasn't sure if he could exploit it. After every swing Kanan immediately dropped his elbow, leaving his right arm open to attack. Ezra had noticed it before and guessed it was the reason why his master wore the saber resistant armor on his right arm. It was probably an old habit that he wasn't able to fix. There was no way to exploit it with a light saber, not without badly injuring Kanan, but he might be able to get a force push under his guard.

Ezra leapt over his master's next swing and somersaulted backward. It only took a second for Kanan to switch to form Shien to block the incoming bolts from Ezra's blaster/saber. There! As he lifted his saber up to block the incoming fire he left his chest open to an attack. It would have been a rookie mistake if not for the fact that Ezra was too far away to do much. A plan clicked into place. Ezra put it all together. As soon as Ezra lept away again Kanan automatically switched to Shien to block incoming fire, assuming that Ezra would use the blaster attachment. He didn't. Instead the Padawan channeled the force to augment his speed and charged. Deactivating his saber, he reached Kanan in two long, quick steps. His master brought his saber up to bare too slow and Ezra was able to grasp the bottom half of the hilt and send a force push straight into his chest, sending Kanan flying back.

Ezra stood panting for a few moments as he deactivated the now, red saber. Slowly he walked over to where his master lay, Unconscious and fell to his knees. He couldn't believe what he had been forced to do. He had come to rescue his master, but wound up fighting him instead. The Inquisitor had been playing with his mind and Ezra was too late to stop it.

Ezra closed his eyes and searched through the force for his master signature. It wasn't as near as clouded as before, Instead he felt Pain and confusion. And awareness? The Padawan opened his eyes to see Kanan had regained consciousness. At first Ezra flinched away and nearly reached for his saber, but that was before he realized that his master's eyes were back to their normal shade of blue-green. The young Jedi let out a sigh of relief.

"Ezra?" His eyes searched his surroundings. Alarms were blaring as the ship shook around them. They needed to make it back to the hanger bay. "What happened?"

"I'll explain later, we need to move, Now!" Ezra said helping his master back up on to his feet. The pair managed to make it in the hallway before the grand Inquisitor made an appearance. Ezra ignited his saber and handed Kanan his. The Jedi's confused face, when his own blade sprang to life, was downright shocked. He looked at his Padawan and back at the crimson blade. If it wasn't for the enemy glaring them down and the ship falling apart around them, Ezra might have had a full on laughing fit.

Before a second battle could ensue, The star destroyer lurched beneath their feet. All three combatants were knocked off their feet. Ezra regained his fighting stance almost instantly. He noticed a small blue crystal slide from the Inquisitor's hand and called it to him with the force.

Before the Pau'an had a chance to pull himself out from underneath a bulked that had collapsed, Ezra again pulled Kanan up and the two made for the hanger deck. They had gotten a lucky break, had they been standing two feet closer to the Inquisitor, They would have been pinned also.

Their luck ran dry too soon. The hall that had led to the bay was collapsed. Ezra pulled his communicator off his utility belt.

"Spector two, we can't get to you. You need to take off. Now!" He heard a slight burst of static over the line before the Twi'lek's voice filled his ears.

"I'm not leaving you!" She was adamant. Kanan looked to Ezra and gestured down the hall, it took a second for the Padawan to get what his master was gesturing toward, then he realized. Escape pods!

"We have an alternate way out, Hera. Just be ready for a quick pick up." Kanan said, taking the device from his young companion. She acknowledged him and the two Jedi began to move. Ezra took the pilot seat and activated the small escape craft. He could feel Kanan over his shoulder and detached from the disintegrating ship.

Right on time. Not thirty seconds after their escape, the section of the Destroyer that they had just been on, vented into space. Ezra could see the Ghost weave its way between the debris and he activated the maneuvering jets.

The two crafts slid gently together and Ezra sighed, leaning back in the pilot's seat. He swung around to see Kanan sitting with his head resting in his hands. His master looked up and Ezra half expected to see yellow eyes. To his relief they remained the same, but he could see the pain reflected in them.

"What have I done." It was less of a question and more of a realization. Ezra sat next to him on the small bench in the escape pod and put a hand on his shoulder. "It took a few minutes for the memories to come back. I didn't-." He paused for a moment with pure worry etched into his features.

"Every ones fine. No one was hurt. You just blacked out for a bit." Ezra smiled reassuringly and moved for the airlock. Kanan followed. They made their way into the ship, They found the crew in the Commons room. They all looked relieved, especially Sabine. Hera Immediately came over and rapped her Jedi in an embrace. Kanan returned the gesture and leaned his head into her shoulder.

"Sabine told us what happened. Are you alright?" Kanan nodded as he pulled away from her and looked to his Padawan.

"Thanks to Ezra." The apprentice shrugged his shoulders.

"It was a team effort." He smiled and Hera gave him a quick hug too. As she pulled away, Ezra grabbed the Crystal from his gear pouch on his belt. "Hey Kanan." As soon as he had the Jedi's attention he tossed him the glowing object. His master caught the Kyber crystal in his right palm and looked at it. A small smile broke across his face and he pulled his saber off his belt. "You might want to fix that little issue."

"Thanks Ezra." The Padawan knew that this was a hard experience for his master, but Kanan would move on. He always could.

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 **hey guys! I hope you enjoyed it. I had a bit of fun with this! I wanted to interpret what I thought a duel between, Kanan and Ezra would be like. I thought about just doing it as a training session but then I thought that the two of them would be holding back their abilities and using different styles. I wanted to show how much Ezra might have improved Over the last 5 years, under Ahsoka's training . Not just with his Hybrid saber, but with discipline, strategy and the force as well. Still Ezra was still obviously holding back, as to not wound Kanan. After all he wanted his best friend back in one piece. :)**

 **If you guys are unsatisfied with this Oneshot in any way. Shoot me a comment and I'll see what I can do, after all I would like to make it better for future readers.**

 **Thanks for reading and feel free to ask any questions about the story. The next chapter of my other story should be out on 1/13/2016, make sure to check that out as well.**


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